San Francisco is good at recycling, but this woman is deserves a prize

Frankly, I didn’t find many of the arguments very compelling. Most of them began with “when I drive to the recycling center . . . ” which seems like a contradiction in terms.

But I have to say, one woman was very impressive. She didn’t convince me the center should stay open, but wow, if everyone was this dedicated I’d almost buy the concept. She asked that I not use her name but she’s one dedicated recycler.

<

Stephen Lam: Special to the Chronicle

It takes a lot of recycling to make this plan work. But this reader might just be able to pull it off.

She says she represents people “who live a frugal, sustainable lifestyle,” and the goal is to avoid the fees of Sunset Scavenger, the garbage pickup company, which she says charges $25 a month for a weekly 20 gallon pickup.

“But if you have a small household and follow all the suggested trash reduction strategies, you will not even generate 20 gallons of garbage in a month, let alone a week,” she said.

So she canceled the garbage pickup and went independent. They have a compost bin in the back yard; so much of the garbage goes there. And they don’t buy hardly any plastic, so everything can either go in the compost pile or be recycled.

“We rent a car every three months and take our garbage (recycling really) to HANC,” she said. “Even with the City CarShare fee it’s vastly cheaper than Sunset Scavenger.”

So, to review: cancel the garbage service, don’t buy anything plastic, compost all available garbage, collect recyclables for three months at a time, rent a car, drive to the recycling center, unload trash.